P4s still in short supply

By
01.30.2002 :: 12:22PM EST

Remember about a year ago when the big to do was being made about whether or not Dell would announce it would start selling Athlon-based systems? This came at a time following P4's introduction when chips were a) hard to come by, and b) not performing like expected, and c) *VERY* expensive. The media coverage even went so far as point to a date where Dell would announce it. There was much anticipation and then … nothing. No announcement. Dell stayed an Intel-only house. It seems to have worked well for them because The Inquirer is reporting that Dell has no problems shipping 2.0GHz or 2.2GHz Northwood P4 systems, yet all other systems makers are scrounging for high-end chips. This is in sharp contrast to a story recently on DigiTimes where Kelly Wu, Intel's Taiwan manager, told reporters that P4 production will increase 50% this quarter. And, The Inquirer does point out that the same kind of thing happened to Compaq (which only bought boxed CPUs, not tray CPUs). The reason for the shortage then was “the new boxes hadn't been printed yet.” :) As a Compaq executive I would've found that a little disheartening. Here I am losing millions per quarter while we're waiting on fancy painted boxes? Bologna! We want product if you have to ship it in white boxes.

USER COMMENTS 48 comment(s)

Boxed CPU's ????(1:17pm EST Wed Jan 30 2002)Thats weird. When I worked at Compaq, all the processor's came in large cardboard boxes with tray's stacked ontop of tray's. So CPQ does use tray's. Boxed CPU's are only for retail, or upgrades, not system's being built.

Dell used the threat of AMD to get better cpu prices and availiability. They never had any intention of releasing an AMD box. Of course Intel was suckered, they really had no choice but to play the game. – by ByteEnable

ByteEnable(1:35pm EST Wed Jan 30 2002)

You're right, they were Compaq Ipaq's. Still, the principle is the same. Waiting on boxes is bad. :)

– by Rick C. Hodgin

Just got to love it…(2:46pm EST Wed Jan 30 2002)

Intel is still, soundly, controlling the supply'n'demand thing quite nicely. A cartel unto itself. Keep supply 'tight', and probably manipulate it all the way… to keep the opium addicts drooling for more.

L'ez not be so pessimistic: it just means that Intel can get 90% yield off their chipline (thier #'s, not mine) – but probably the 0.13's are running something like 20%:2200+ 40%:2200 30%:2000 and 10%:1900-, whereas the much higher output 0.18 plants are producing 3%:2000+ 7%:2000 15%:1900 40%:1800 25%:1700 and 10%:1600-.

So, they're numerically producing a lot more of the 1700-1900 chips than the 2000+'s. With the gradual upgrade to 0.13 for all their chips, we'll see an explosion of high-end oversupply pretty soon. No wonder they didn't want to rush into it so fast.

But hey – if I was a cartel – I'd manipulate supply & demand so long as I was able, too! WTG, Intel. Watch out for AMD on yer tail!

– by GoatGuy

Why Boxed CPU's?(10:24pm EST Wed Jan 30 2002)If you're Compaq why would you want to waste the money on boxed CPU's? The failure rate is so low that retail CPU's don't seem to have any advantages to a large computer company. – by Etcetera

Pre-emptive strike(1:34am EST Thu Jan 31 2002)As I recall, which isn't infallable, the P4 was introduced before it was really ready for full production, as a preemptive strike against the Athlon. They were trying to delay purchasing decisions of possible Athlon customers by say 6-9 months by announcing the P4 and then stringing them along until they were actually available. I'm a little foggy, but my impression at the time was that the Athlon looked like a serious challenge to Intel, maybe even butt kicking (or equal at a lower price, don't remember) and Intel just had to at least announce it with vague ship dates, which, course, would have to slip. – by FunnyBone